Long before Hogwarts.
Long before Merlin.
Before Yggdrasil reached into the stars—
There was Atlantis.
Not a city, but a heart.
Not sunken, but slumbering.
And now, it had stirred.
The Submarine Room shimmered, and the dive began.
Aarav's enchanted vessel, The Anchor's Will, slipped beneath the Black Lake, descended through its invisible trench… and then kept going—far beyond physical depth.
Through runic currents.
Through magical pressure older than language.
Through a barrier of stillness.
And finally—into air.
Because Atlantis wasn't under the ocean.
It was inside a sealed pocket dimension, held in stasis between pressure and time.
At the center of a glowing sea stood a temple of living coral and glass, its spires etched with symbols that shimmered between languages:
Some resembled Egyptian.
Some looked like Elvish.
Some… whispered.
"It's alive," Hermione murmured.
"This isn't architecture. It's a mind."
Aarav raised his wand. The runes on his skin burned.
"Then it's dreaming of us."
SYSTEM ALERT:
Location: Temple of The First Flame – Atlantis Core
Warning: Thought-Reactive Reality Detected
Skill Required: Memory-Soul Precision
New Passive Gained: Dreamwalking Pulse (While submerged)
Boss Potential: Unknown Entity – "The Speaker Before Flame"
The doors opened.
They didn't swing. They breathed.
They entered a sphere with no gravity, no ceiling, and no floor.
Just light.
Pillars of memory spun like starlight.
And at the center, seated on a throne of unlit fire, was a figure woven from concepts.
Not bone. Not flesh.
Not even magic.
Just thought made tangible.
It raised its head. Its face shimmered through a thousand identities—witch, man, elf, serpent, child, storm.
"You are the one who denied the Void," it said.
"But do you know who I am?"
Aarav whispered, stunned:
"The first who lit the stars…"
The Speaker nodded.
"I gave fire to magic. But I gave silence to flame.
Now you bring both to my door. Why?"
"Because magic is changing," Aarav said.
"And what was forgotten is rising. I need to know what's coming. I need to know if we're ready."
The Speaker stood.
The Temple trembled.
"Then you must take the Trial of Flame Unburned.
You must walk memory that is not your own…
and return without breaking your identity."
"If I fail?"
"You will become… a beacon with no fire.
Immortal. Ageless. Forgotten."
Aarav stepped forward.
"I accept."
Suddenly, Aarav vanished.
To his companions, he simply froze mid-step, eyes glowing.
But within—he stood in a version of the world where magic never existed.
A Muggle Earth.
No Hogwarts.
No wands.
No Dumbledore.
No Harry.
No Aarav Gaunt.
Only… Aarav Mahmood, ordinary man. Forgotten soul.
"Why are you fighting?" the world asked him.
"You were happy here. You were safe."
But Aarav looked into a mirror.
And in the fog, he saw:
Hermione, defiant.
Harry, hopeful.
Dumbledore, weeping.
Wanda, waiting.
He raised his hand.
And burned the illusion.
He awoke in the temple—eyes blazing with Starfire.
The Speaker knelt.
"You remember who you are, even when the world forgets.
Then take this gift:
The Ember of Origin.
A magic that remembers what came before magic."
SYSTEM REWARD:
Item Acquired: Ember of Origin
Effect: Can ignite forgotten paths, awaken dead spells, and reveal sealed truths
Skill Gained: Starfire Surge
Use: Once per day – unleash flame that burns lies, illusions, and voidbound matter
Passive Gained: Atlantean Recognition – Treated as High Mage by pre-magic civilizations
As they returned to the upper world, the waves parted themselves.
The stars blinked in new constellations.
The world felt… older.
But safer.
For now.